Project 4.8.1 - Resilience and
connectivity

For detailed descriptions of the outputs for
this project for Year 4 (2009/2010) of the MTSRF Research
Programme, see the Annual Research
Plan.

Understanding the scale of larval dispersal is a
major challenge in marine ecology and it is clear that management
of marine fishes, including by marine protected areas (MPAs), must
incorporate the scales over which their populations are connected
by larval dispersal. MPAs ('green zones') in the Great Barrier Reef
promote the abundance, size and reproductive potential of exploited
fishes within their boundaries, but an important question remains
unanswered - do green zones provide a recruitment subsidy to
exploited fish populations such as coral trout beyond their
boundaries (blue zones), thereby promoting the resilience and
sustainable exploitation of fish resources?

This project will provide answers to the following
questions critical to the assessment of the effectiveness of the
Great Barrier Reef Zoning model:

What is the spatial scale of connectivity by larval fish
dispersal within the Great Barrier Reef?

How much do green zones contribute to the recruitment of coral
trout and other fish species in blue zones (via larval
connectivity)?

To what extent are populations in green zones sustained by their
own reproduction (via larval retention)?

Are particular areas especially important sources of larvae for
blue zones?

Are particular areas sustained by retention or by dispersal?

Key objectives of Project 4.8.1 include:

Development and testing of realistic larval-fish dispersal
models for the Great Barrier Reef; and

Development and testing of methods to ground-truth
larval-fish dispersal models for the Great Barrier Reef.

Swimming with the big fish, studying the small

Imaging trying to track in the open seas the migration of fishes
that are only a few millimetres to a centimetre long, almost
transparent and bearing little resemblance to adult forms.

It's a challenge that Dr Jeff Leis and his research team have
met over the years by donning their diving gear and following
larval fishes through the water, painstakingly observing them with
the naked eye. It is an essential part of Jeff's research to
understand how and how far the fishes of the Great Barrier Reef
disperse in the first weeks to months of their lives, during their
'pelagic larval stage'.

[Click on the link above to access the full article]

* Dr Leis' work is partly funded by the Marine and Tropical
Sciences Research Facility, Project 4.8.1.

Further Information

Dr David SouterGBR Program Research ManagerReef and Rainforest Research Centre LimitedTel: (07) 4781 6013david.souter@rrrc.org.au

Major Project Outputs

The Annual Research Plans, or ARPs, outline the specific tasks,
products, budgets and staff for each research project within each
of the Research Themes and Programs of the MTSRF. The ARPs
also outline the key deliverables, or 'project
milestones' (e.g. major reports, journal articles,
communications products) to be achieved.

An ARP is developed for each operating year of the MTSRF
(2006-2010).

Details of this and previous years' outputs from this project
are included in each of the Annual Research
Plans.